


Prophecy Delayed

by Angryaria



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-10 19:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18414071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angryaria/pseuds/Angryaria
Summary: An Oracle in Training has a prophecy of the end of the world, and takes matters into her own hands to deal with it.





	1. The Prophecy

**Author's Note:**

> I've done a lot of original fiction writing in the last few years, but it's all been for Tabletop Gaming. Until now. This story is related to my D&D game (see end notes) but it's the first time I've tried just writing a story for the story's sake in about 15 years. So I'm not saying "go easy on me," but I am looking forward to growing as I continue the tale.

Jolting upright in her bed, Felicity awoke from the worst dream of her life. She was covered in cold sweat, her head was pounding, and her arms were trembling. She knew right away the things she’d just seen were more than just some nightmare.

This had been a prophecy.

It wasn’t unheard of for Oracles in Training to have visions. Usually fragments here or there, as they manage to attune their consciousness close to the source of all things. Maybe some colors, or words, or an idea would hit them. This had been different, though. Felicity had seen much more than just disconnected ideas. She had seen the end of the world in vivid detail.

Felicity threw her blankets to the side and hopped out of bed. Her legs were still weak, and she barely caught her balance. She could hear her roommate stirring. “Sorry, Joyelle,” she whispered. “Go back to sleep.” While the girl on the lower bunk rolled over and got comfortable, Felicity pulled a jacket over her sleeping gown and left her room.

It was still before dawn when she finished telling her story to her instructor. They were meeting in his office at his insistence, even though she’d gone to his apartment to wake him up. He could tell she was serious, and divination was treated with respect here, so he got ready in a hurry and led her to the office building. Mostly ignoring the tea he had made for her, Felicity talked about her dream with clarity. The instructor was shocked at first, but quickly enraptured. He had heard of legendary oracles through the ages having prophecies this clear, but never someone so young, and certainly not someone he knew personally.

Finally finished, Felicity sat in her chair in silence. The instructor looked down at the notes he’d been taking and shook his head. This was bad. It was well beyond his pay grade, at least. “Let me just skim through and make sure I got the main points right, okay?”

Felicity nodded, biting her lip. She’d been filled with determination as she relayed her dream, but now that it was all out in the open, she couldn’t help but feel a little stupid about it. Had she maybe been overreacting? Just because she was an Oracle in Training didn’t mean every bad dream had to be a prophecy, right?

“A great calamity befalls the world. Five stars from the sky strike together.” He looks up at her. “Anything else you can tell me about the stars?”

She considered for a moment. “Black… and sharp. Like, dangerous.”

The instructor nodded. “The five wreak havoc, and none can stop them. City by city, person by person, they end the world.” 

Felicity shuddered again, then nodded slowly.

“Please tell me the last part one more time. Exactly how you said it before, if you can.”

“Okay. It’s… the part I’m most sure about, anyway. The world is powerless to stop the calamity. The combined strength of everyone is not enough.” Felicity bit her lip for a moment again, then swallowed and concluded, “Nothing in this world can save us.”

For a few moments only the sound of a fountain pen scrawling across paper could be heard. Felicity sat and waited, breathing short, nervous breaths. The instructor was checking and rechecking his notes, crossing things out and adding clarifications. After awhile, with the sun just starting to peek through the windows, he spoke.

“I will pass this on right away, Felicity. Please don’t tell anybody else about this until we hear back, okay?”

“Y-yes, instructor. I know the guidelines…”

“Okay.” His weary face broke into a half smile, and he set the paper on his desk before patting her on the head. “You did good, Felicity. I’m sorry you had to see all that.”

“Thank… you…”

“You’re a good kid, Felicity. I thought you had a promising future even before tonight. I still do.”

“But if the world is-”

“Felicity,” he interrupted her.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve seen it!” She had never raised her voice toward a teacher before. “It’s coming, okay! I can’t just… I can’t pretend things are normal… I can’t-”

The instructor sighed, then wrapped her up in a hug. Felicity was shocked at first, but quickly relaxed into the hug and began silently weeping. She’d kept it together until now, but with everything out, she just couldn’t any longer. She needed to cry. This kind of affection was technically against protocol, but the instructor didn’t care. The rules don’t specify anything about apocalyptic prophecies anyway. It would be fine.

He held her until she finished crying, and then she left his office quietly. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity took a couple days off from classes, claiming to be sick. In actuality her health was declining, but it was due to exhaustion. She couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the explosions. The fire. The people dying.

Joyelle was worried about her, but Felicity couldn’t tell her the truth. This was the first time she’d kept anything from her best friend. But these were the rules, and she lived by the rules. Joyelle would understand, eventually. As soon as the paperwork had gone through, she could be open about everything and explain what had been wrong. 

Nearly a week after Felicity had gone to her instructor, she had begun attending some classes again. She was too sleep-deprived to pay close attention, but the way some of the instructors whispered and stole glances at her, she had the impression the whole faculty knew. They left her alone. They didn’t call on her in class, nor did they ask her to do any extra work. Until finally, almost two weeks after that first night, her instructor asked her to stay after class.

By this point Felicity looked awful. She was always a petite girl, but she had visibly lost weight. The circles under her eyes were pronounced. Her naturally gray hair fell bedraggled over her shoulders, unkempt. She had managed to get a little sleep here and there, even going so far as to cast a Sleep spell on herself at the urging of the nurse. Magically induced sleep was peaceful, at least, but not as restful as natural sleep. Still, it was something.

Once the other students had cleared out, she asked, “What is it?”

“I think we should speak alone, in my office, Felicity.” Her instructor said it with a flat tone. She couldn’t read his expression at all. She rubbed her eyes and nodded, then followed him out of the class. Sticking close behind him, Felicity could feel the stares on her back. Why was everyone looking at her? Faculty and students alike, everyone got quiet as they passed. Did everyone know? What was going on? She heard whispering, but couldn’t make it out. Or was she just imagining things, maybe?

She sat in the same chair she’d used that fateful night, realizing as she sat up straight that she couldn’t even remember all the details of her walk down the hallway minutes before. There was really something wrong with her, now. She was falling apart.

“Felicity, I’m going to be straight with you here.”

She looked up at him. Before he had sat close, acted comforting, almost paternal. This time he stood, arms crossed. Was that a pained expression, maybe? And no offering of tea.

“I filed the appropriate paperwork for your dream, Felicity,” he continued.

Dream. Dream. He’d definitely just said dream. Not prophecy, or vision.

“Due to the severity, certain protocols had to be observed. We went through all the steps, meticulously.”

Felicity had read the school’s handbooks front to back so many times; there was nothing she didn’t know. She was a model student. 

She knew what was coming.

“As you might know, there are safeguards in place, even among Oracles in Training. We take you all seriously, and so your story was passed up through the school, to other Oracles around the land, and even to the Queen herself.”

But. There was a ‘but’ coming.

“...But, that’s where it had to stop. There are strict guidelines about…” The instructor hesitated, almost as if he wished he didn’t have to say this. “...about uncorroborated divination. The more severe the vision, the more likely other Oracles will have seen some glimpse of it.” He cleared his throat. “You know, a few years ago, that big earthquake? Dozens of Oracles saw different visions of it. Rivers flowing backward, buildings collapsed, earth torn asunder. It’s only by looking at multiple visions that we can determine the veracity of a claim. And, so…”

Felicity was on the verge of tears.

“You were the only one. Anywhere. I’m… I’m not saying you were wrong, Felicity. I’m just saying… well.” As a tear streaked down the girl’s cheek, the instructor turned away from her. He put a hand on his desk for support. “I did all we could. We did. So, it’s over. Just… just try to move on, Felicity.”

She couldn’t even protest. She knew the rules. Technically, he was right. If nobody else saw it, then this was the correct course of action.

But surely the rules should be flexible in a case like this! This was the end of the world. She knew what she’d seen. There was no mistake. Those harbingers of disaster were coming.

~~~~~~~~~~

“You can’t just up and leave, Feli,” Joyelle protested. She was sitting on her bed, watching her roommate move sluggishly around the room and throw things in a bag. The nickname gave Felicity a moment’s hesitation. Joyelle was the only one that called her that. Then she was back to sorting through her clothes. “You’re gonna throw everything away, you know?”

“Of course I know,” Felicity finally stopped and looked her friend in the eyes. “This isn’t some easy decision, okay! But I don’t really have a choice.” She had snapped back with a tone she’d never used toward her friend. It hurt her, but she couldn’t stop to apologize.

“Right, right,” Joyelle shook her head, “end of the world or whatnot.”

Felicity grimaced. She’d finally told Joyelle after being rejected by her instructor, but her reaction hadn’t been great. And if even her best friend wouldn’t believe her, she really was alone for this. 

“What are you even gonna do, Feli?”

“I… don’t exactly know, yet.” It was true. She knew she needed to act. Something had to be done. But she had no idea where to start, or what to do.

“The second you leave the school, you’re gonna be expelled. You’re throwing everything away. You can’t just say nevermind in a week and come back.”

“I know.” Felicity had made up her mind.

“Won’t you at least sleep on it? 

Felicity winced. “...I can’t sleep. You know that.”

Joyelle was silent for a bit as Felicity continued shoving things in her bag. She didn’t actually have many personal effects. She hadn’t seen her family in years, and didn’t have anything to remember them by. Instead, she grabbed a few textbooks. Simple Charms, Beginner’s Potions, and a book she hadn’t started yet about Magical Wards. Maybe she’d have time to read it later.

“Hey Feli, what if you run into trouble?”

The question snapped her back to attention. “What trouble?”

“You’re gonna be wandering around at night. Anything could happen.”

“I can take care of myself, Joyelle.”

“You’re like, the worst in class at offensive charms and you know it! Have you ever even disarmed someone? Do you even know how to use a Magic Missile?”

Felicity frowned. It was true, she wasn’t a fighter. But again, none of that mattered. She would do whatever needed to be done. Someone had to.

She pulled her black traveling cloak on, slung her bag over her shoulders, and took one last look around the room.

“Feli.”

“I’m not staying, Joyelle.”

“No, I know, but…” 

Joyelle sighed, and climbed out of her bed. She approached her friend and gave her a tight hug. Felicity was a little surprised, but eventually hugged her back. When Joyelle pulled away, she spoke just above a whisper. “If you’re really really serious about doing something… something crazy. Then go get your hands on the Rose Orb.”

It took a moment for Felicity to understand. She’d heard the phrase before, but couldn’t place it. Something she’d learned in school. Wait, ‘Rose’... the royal family?

“It’s like, some kinda sacred treasure. Supposed to be super super magical. Maybe it’ll help.”

Felicity was exhausted. Her face was red and tear-streaked from earlier. But for the first time in awhile, a small smile broke out across her face. She had an objective.

“Just because I’m telling you this doesn’t mean I think you’re making the right call, Feli,” Joyelle released her friend and walked back toward her bed. “You’re probably gonna get yourself thrown in prison, or worse. And!” She spun around and plopped down on her bed. “Just because I’ll do whatever I can to keep your secret here, doesn’t mean I agree with it. And just because I’ll probably end up forging some kinda letter that says you ran away out west, or whatever, doesn’t me--”

“Thank you, Joyelle.”

“Whatever!”

Felicity smiled, then turned her back on her room, and her friend, and began to sneak out of the dormitory.

~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity was no trained rogue. She had never sneaked into a building before. She’d hardly even broken rules before. As much as possible, she always tried to follow the rules.

So it was beyond preposterous that she found herself sneaking through Castle Rosebloom in the middle of the night, trying to break into the castle’s treasury. What was even more ridiculous, though, is that so far she’d been doing pretty well.

Like Joyelle had pointed out before, Felicity was not a combat mage at all. She had only basic competency with charms. She could create a spark in her hands, but not exactly throw a fireball. However, recently she’d had plenty of time to practice a certain spell, and she was getting extremely good at it.

“Sleep.”

Her words were whispered, and followed shortly by the thud of yet another guard hitting the floor. Felicity had made a trail of them so far, and this was the fifth. But each time she used the spell, it took more out of her. She was already exhausted, and this was eating away at something else inside her. She felt hollowed out. Her breathing was becoming more ragged, and she hadn’t yet noticed, but her skin was sallow. This was unlike a practical exam at school. She didn’t know how many more times she could use her spell. Stepping carefully past the snoring guard, she hurried down the hallway and around the corner. 

Luckily, she knew where she was heading. She had never visited the castle. Someone from a normal family like her would have had no reason to come here. But regardless, she knew exactly where to go, and the shortest path to get there. She was focused.

Peeking around another corner, she saw the door. It was a nondescript wooden door in a long, dimly lit hallway. She knew this was the back entrance to the treasury. Getting to the main entrance, with its ornate, well-guarded door, would’ve been impossible. Here, there was only one more guard between her and her goal. She just had to make the spell happen, even if it hurt. She grit her teeth, waited until his attention was focused the other way, and started quietly toward him.

She was so focused on not making sound, she didn’t notice the door slowly opening behind her before she turned the corner.

Felicity made it halfway to the door before the guard caught the sound of her feet and spun toward her. He shouted in surprise and reached for his poleaxe, but Felicity extended her right hand and called out “Sleep!” before he could do anything else. The effect was instantaneous on both of them: the guard slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, while Felicity lost all the strength in her legs and collapsed in pain. There was no way she’d be able to cast another spell. She was already way past her limit. Her chest was on fire.

A few seconds passed, with only the ragged sound of Felicity’s breathing breaking the silence in the castle. Eventually, she climbed to her feet and slowly made her way to the door. It opened easily.

Stepping inside, Felicity found herself surrounded by boxes and crates stacked to the ceiling. Some of them had holes in them, and she could tell they were all full of incredibly valuable things. Just one of these small boxes contained enough riches for her family to be set for life, but she ignored them and continued onward. Past a wall of jewelry and fineries. Past a hallway that led to expensive wines and liquors. Past some actual piles of gold. She looked past it all, and then she saw it.

There was no ornate altar or shrine. Just a plain wooden table with nothing else touching it, or even near it. Clearly set aside from the clutter of the rest of the room. Atop the table rested an old velvet bag, and a black orb designed to fit inside. The orb was perfectly smooth, and the black was almost too black. When you looked at it closely, your gaze got drawn inside it. The flat surface of the orb was broken only by a stylized engraving of a rose, the crest of the Rosebloom royal family. Felicity realized she had just been staring for awhile. She was unnaturally drawn to the orb.

She took a step toward it, and froze when a voice called out from behind her. “What are you doing with my family’s treasure?”

It was over. She made it this far, but now she was caught in the worst possible way. She would definitely be executed. Or maybe just killed right here? No, surely they’d take her out of the room first. Her blood would get all over the fancy stuff here.

Felicity slowly turned around to face the person who had sealed her fate, and found herself looking down a bit at a young girl. She had long, flowing, curly blonde hair, an unblemished face, and ornate silk pajamas probably worth as much as Felicity’s entire wardrobe put together. At least. 

She knew this girl, though. Everyone did. She was famous.

“Princess… Chrysanthemum?”

The younger girl folded her arms and frowned. “You haven’t answered my question.”

The youngest princess of the Rosebloom family was really the one that would get her killed? Who could have possibly seen that coming? After avoiding dozens of guards and charming another half dozen, to be discovered by a little girl… 

There was no real reason to hide anything from her, then. Her parents already knew about the prophecy anyway, even if they didn’t believe it.

“I’m here because…” 

Her voice squeaked a bit. Between her exhaustion, the pain in her chest, and her growing fear, this wasn’t going to be easy. If she wanted the princess to understand, was this the best way? No, she had to take a step back and go from the beginning. She nodded to herself, and tried again.

“My name is Felicity. I’m an Oracle in Training, and I had a prophecy of the end of the world.”

Whatever Chrysanthemum had expected to hear, it was clearly not this. The girl in front of her, dressed in black and obviously suspicious, had just surprised her a second time. The first, of course, had been because this intruder had specifically not hurt any of the guards. That was why Chrysanthemum had decided to follow, rather than immediately sounding the alarm.

The younger girl nodded, giving Felicity permission to continue.

“I, uh… well okay.” She could skip all the technical stuff about the reporting process, right? “Nobody believed me, but I know it’s true. The world is going to end, and there’s nothing anybody in the world can do to stop it.”

“Okay…” Chrysanthemum nodded, following along. “I see why you’d be willing to do something reckless, then. But you still haven’t answered the original question.”

Despite herself, Felicity couldn’t help but be a little surprised at the princess’s eloquence. She couldn’t have been more than 12 years old, but she talked like someone much older.

“I had an idea.” It was time for the crazy part. She hadn’t told anybody this yet. She was still working out the details herself, really. It had only started to come together after leaving Joyelle. “Do you know about summoning magic?”

Chrysanthemum nodded again. “Sure. Familiars and things like that.”

“So, I know for a fact that nobody in our world can stop what’s coming. But I don’t want the world to end! So, I thought, maybe if I summoned something to help…”

“But summoned familiars are, like, little fairies and things. You’re talking about the end of the world, right? What could some familiar do, that all the heroes of our world couldn’t?”

“That’s why I’m here, your highness.” Felicity took a step to the side and gestured toward the black orb behind her. “I don’t know if it will work, but this is a super magical thing, right? We learned about it in school. I’d forgotten until recently, but it’s extremely powerful. What if I used it to summon something to save us?”

Chrysanthemum looked between the intruder and the orb a few times and considered. She didn’t have any particular reason to believe everything Felicity had said, and yet somehow she couldn’t bring herself to doubt her.

She took a few steps forward until she was right in front of the older girl, and looked up at her.

“I wanna get this straight. The world’s gonna end, and you need to use some suuuuper powerful summon to save it.”

Felicity’s eyes narrowed. Was the princess’s regal tone slipping? “Y-yes, that’s right.”

“So you sneak into my castle to steal my family’s treasure?”

“Um, yes, I mean-”

“And you didn’t kill any guards or anything. Or steal anything else from the treasury.”

“Well, I didn’t want to-”

“Okay!” Chrysanthemum clapped her hands together, silencing Felicity’s response. She stepped around her, toward the table, and reached for the orb. She casually grabbed it and stuffed it in the velvet bag, then cinched the string at the top to close it. When she turned around to face a stunned Felicity, the princess was smiling.

She held her hands out, offering the bag.

“Feli,” she said cheerfully, “you can go ahead and steal this.”

Felicity was completely taken aback. She had been caught in the princess’s pace for awhile, but now she could barely keep up. What was even happening?

“But…” Chrysanthemum continued, her smile widening. Actually, it looked less happy, and more mischievous. “You have to steal me away, too.”

~~~~~~~~~~ End Chapter 1 ~~~~~~~~~~


	2. The Rain in the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Princess Chrysanthemum have left the city and set off on their quest, but neither of them really know what that means, yet.

~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 2 ~~~~~~~~~~

After trekking through various underground passages away from the castle, several of which were entirely unlit, Felicity had completely lost track of where she was. Chrysanthemum continued to lead the way. Just who exactly was kidnapping whom, here? When asked, the princess said she learned about the tunnels from someone “very cool,” and she had, on occasion, sneaked away a bit. She also casually remarked that her brother, Prince Matthiola, used them sometimes to meet up with women in the city in secret.

What kind of brother tells their little sister that?

This final stretch of their quiet escape was through an abandoned section of sewer, and Chrysanthemum assured Felicity it would take them beyond the walls and outside the city. They trudged through odious ankle deep mud, but considering they had yet to encounter a single guard or anybody else, Felicity couldn’t really complain. She just followed along, fixated on what had just happened in the treasury.

“What do you mean, steal you away?”

“Kidnap me,” the princess had said matter-of-factly. “You know. Get me outta here.”

With her lack of sleep, she had doubted she was hearing things right. Then before she knew it, the princess had foisted the bag in Felicity’s right hand and grabbed her left, dragging her away.

And now their escape was nearly complete. It was almost anticlimactic, all things considered.

“Feli, we’re almost there!” 

Her cheerful voice snapped Felicity to attention. There was a rusted iron storm grate ahead of them, and she could see pale light streaking through. Their escape had taken all night.

“Please slow down, your majesty,” she whispered ahead. It was hard to keep up with the energetic girl already, and she was now running toward the actual light at the end of the tunnel. 

“I said stop calling me that! We’re partners in crime, now, Feli!”

She didn’t slow down.

Feli. Feli. Why that nickname? It had taken over a year for Joyelle to start using a nickname, and Joyelle was the closest friend she’d ever had. This was way too fast. 

Felicity couldn’t keep up with Chrysanthemum.

By the time she reached the iron grate, the princess had already dug a small hole and squeezed under it. She was safely on the outside, standing in grass with that same mischievous smile. Thankfully, Felicity had always been a little on the small side, so fitting through the gap wasn’t too difficult for her, either. She pulled herself to her feet, wiped her hands on her cloak, and looked around.

The early dawn sunlight rose above the distant scattered trees as if to greet them, and congratulate them on their successful escape. Behind them were a few rolling hills of tall grasses, and here and there she could see small farms and fenced-off pastures. They had escaped the city to the east, she could now tell, as the sun was straight ahead. It was the furthest east she’d ever been. If they kept going this way, they’d reach the ocean eventually. But she really had no idea how far away that was. It’s one thing to look at a map, but it’s entirely different when there’s an expanse of grasslands ahead of you.

To her side, Chrysanthemum stretched and yawned. Her luxurious pajamas had some dark mud caked around the edges of the sleeves and pants, and there was even some mud in her long hair. It just felt wrong, seeing someone like the princess stained with dirt like this.

Reaching behind her, Felicity could feel the comforting weight of the Rose Orb in her backpack. Despite its apparent immense magical power, it just felt like a heavy ball once it was safely tucked away in its bag. Standing here now, everything really started to sink in. She was just a normal student a day ago, with a sterling disciplinary record, but she’d now accomplished a heist. She was a criminal. What would Joyelle say?

Felicity tried to take a step forward and stumbled, one knee hitting the ground. She had kept going this long on pure adrenaline and willpower, but she could feel it now. She had nothing left. She was more exhausted than she’d ever been in her life; physically, mentally, and even spiritually. She would probably have been hungry, but she wouldn’t have had the energy to chew.

“Um, Feli? You okay?”

She could feel her eyes drooping, too. Just as the sun was starting to rise, she was getting this sleepy? Come on. They couldn’t just stop here.

Felicity pushed herself to her feet and immediately began swaying. Chrysanthemum scurried over and grabbed on to her, steadying her.

“Hey um, you should probably rest. You look really horrible actually.”

Ouch. Nobody likes to be told that.

“Fine… ‘m fine. We can’t, just, stop.”

“Why not?” Chrysanthemum asked with a shrug.

Felicity didn’t actually have an answer for that.

“Who’s gonna tell us what we can or can’t do? If you’re sleepy, get some rest.” She looked around for a good spot, and began dragging Felicity toward a grassy area in the shade. “I’ll stay with you.”

“No, you don’t-” Felicity’s protests were interrupted by a long, wide yawn. The princess giggled in response. “You don’t understand,” she tried again. “I can’t sleep. I haven’t slept… in weeks.”

“Ehh… that’s bad!” Chrysanthemum pulled Felicity down to the ground, acting forcefully, though the older girl could hardly resist now. She’d made it this far with the strength of her convictions, but now she was like an oversized doll. Her arms hung limply. 

She was lying in the grass, her head resting on the princess’s lap. Wait, how did she… did she skip forward? Oh, it was like what happened at the school. Felicity realized she must have been blacking out on her feet. That would also explain her imperfect memories of her trip from the school to the castle.

Felicity tried to move, but Chrysanthemum held her down. “Rest, Feli.”

“But…” she didn’t have the strength to fight back, but she still protested. “I can’t sleep.”

“Then try your hardest not to sleep. That’s what my mom always told me when I said I couldn’t sleep. She said turn off the lights, lay down, and just try your hardest not to sleep.”

“Did it… did it work?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I always fell asleep before I got the chance to see if it was working.”

Felicity smiled and laughed quietly. 

She hadn’t laughed in so long.

Before she even got the chance to worry about the nightmares, or what might be coming next, Felicity had fallen fast asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Felicity had slept the entire day away, and the sun was already starting to set when she began stirring. Chrysanthemum had stayed with her the entire time, though she was definitely ready to get moving once she had the chance. They ate some of the meager provisions Felicity had brought from school, and set off across the grasslands together. 

She wasn’t at 100% or anything, but Felicity felt better than she’d felt in weeks. She didn’t even dream at all, at least that she could remember.

When the two approached the first farm, they saw a clothesline still swaying in the breeze. The owner must not have had time to take these in for the night, yet. It was early evening, and someone would probably be by soon, but this would actually be a good chance. She didn’t feel great about it, but it was better than the alternative.

“Wait, your highness.”

“I said stop with that!”

“...Princess Chrysanthemum,” she tried again.

“Still too stuffy, but sure. What’s up?”

“Maybe you should get some new clothes, here. What you’re wearing kind of stands out…”

The princess looked down at her clothes. Despite being dirty, they were still gorgeous and well-crafted. “Are they really that bad?”

“No!” She’d accidentally shouted, not wanting to give the wrong idea. She continued more quietly, “It’s the opposite, princess. They’re too nice. Way, way too nice for someone that’s just walking around.”

Chrysanthemum nodded, thinking to herself, then started walking along the clotheslines. She picked out a brown tunic and dark blue cloak and pulled them down. Both of them were a little large for her, but they would fit. Felicity was shocked when the younger girl just immediately began undressing. She averted her eyes and kept a lookout. Still all alone. This particular farmstead was rather large, so the owner could easily be very far away, putting the last touches in on a day’s work.

When Felicity turned back, she saw Chrysanthemum had already put her royal pajamas on the line. They swayed gently in the breeze.

“Is it okay, Feli? They’re dirty.”

If this farm family was anything like her own, they had probably never seen such fine silk in person before. It certainly more than made up for the cost of the clothes they were stealing.

“It’s fine. Let’s hurry on, Princess.”

They walked away together with the setting sun at their back.

~~~~~~~~~~

“So where are we, Feli?”

Once again, Felicity was regretting not paying more attention to her own nation’s geography. Of course, the same could be said for Chrysanthemum.

“Okay, you know the two rivers?”

“I always thought they looked like an eye, on the maps and stuff. Like they meet up, then split and make like a circle, then meet up again. So an eye. Rosebloom is the eyeball in the center.”

That was certainly an interesting way of looking at it.

“Sure. So we started at the center of the eye and went east,” Felicity continued, going along with that description. “At some point the rivers will close in on both sides of us, and that’s just about where we’ll hit the ocean.”

“I see…” Chrysanthemum nodded along, drawing shapes in the air with her finger. Tracing their path in her mind. “So, Feli?”

“Yes?”

“Why are we going east?”

Felicity slowed her pace, and then stopped. Chrysanthemum noticed and stopped as well, looking over.

“I…”

They had exited the Rosebloom sewers facing east. Taken a nap. Then set off in that direction without thinking.

“I don’t, um… I don’t actually know.”

“We’re just walking? With no direction?”

“Umm…”

Chrysanthemum rounded back and stood in front of Felicity. She crossed her arms, just as she’d done in the treasury, and looked up at her incredulously. “What exactly is your plan, Feli?”

It was a good point. She really hadn’t thought it through, and was just kind of moving forward aimlessly. So what came next? 

“I don’t really know,” she replied honestly. “Or, I don’t have a plan.” Part of her didn’t think she would make it this far, after all. So then, it was time to think this through. No more walking aimlessly. “Let’s, um, start from the end.” The princess nodded, so Felicity continued. “I need to summon something to save the world”

“We. You can say We.” Chrysanthemum smiled a little, but then was back to business.

“Right. Um… so, to do that, I-- we need to use the Rose Orb.”

“Mhmm.”

“But I have no idea how, so, we need someone to teach us how to use it… I think?”

“That makes sense!”

“But, but… I don’t have any idea where to start, there. I can’t go back to my school. And besides, their focus was divination. We did learn the basics in other things, but all the most impressive faculty were Diviners, or Oracles. Stuff like that. Not summoners.”

Chrysanthemum thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “Wait, you just need someone super powerful?”

“I mean… yeah, that makes sense to me. A powerful mage.”

“I know where to go!”

Felicity was shocked. “Wh-what? Where?”

“We’re going to Freesia!”

Freesia was a city on the western side of the island nation. To get there from Rosebloom, you’d have to cross the southern river, then make your way west through the Great Forest. Or make a big detour, going around the forest. But that would take ages. Felicity had never been, but she’d heard Freesia was a bustling city with a healthy trade economy. It was notable because it was the only human city that had a large population of non-humans. Something like a third of the citizens were elves.

Felicity had never met an elf. In general, humans kept to themselves. Or were outright hostile toward certain races. There’d been some big war with the dwarves in the mountains up north, but she didn’t know all the details. Anyway, she didn’t have any grudge against anybody, really, and she never understood why other humans would just decide outright “all of them are bad” about people. The idea of going to Freesia, and maybe meeting non-humans for the first time, was actually pretty exciting.

“Why Freesia?” Felicity finally asked after getting carried away in her thoughts.

“My aunt lives there, and she’s a suuuuper strong mage. She can definitely tell us what to do.”

The prospect of having a set goal again was appealing. Felicity was good at working toward something, but tended to get lost in her own thoughts when left without a clear path. But wasn’t there a problem, here?

“You want to meet someone from your family? Um… You know, I did kidnap you, technically, and--”

“Oh, don’t worry about all that!” Chrysanthemum boldly declared. “Aunt Sara doesn’t get along with my mom, anyway. Or most people, actually. But she loves me! Or, did, last time I saw her… a few years ago…” She thought for a moment, then shrugged. “It’ll be fine!”

The plan gave Felicity a bad feeling, but the younger girl’s enthusiasm toward it was hard to argue against. And it was better than just walking aimlessly east, toward nothing. She would just have to stay on her guard.

“Okay,” Felicity nodded. “Let’s go to Freesia.” She reached back to her mental map of the kingdom, and tried to guess how far they’d walked east. “I think, maybe we should turn south… and then west?” But how far south? If they weren’t careful, they’d run straight into an outpost of royal guards or something. “Oh! Wait!” They’d use the geography to their advantage. “Let’s go south until we hit the river, then just walk along it. That’ll eventually bring us to the Great Forest, then it’s just a quick walk through there, and straight on til Freesia!”

“Straight on til Freesia!” Chrysanthemum echoed happily.

Neither of them had any idea just how long of a journey it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was already getting dark, but being in the forest made it almost impossible to see anything clearly. Huge, ancient trees were everywhere, and the underbrush was so thick you could hardly see the forest floor. 

To Felicity, it felt like they’d been in here for ages, but it had only been about a week since they’d changed directions to head south, and a day and a half since they’d reached the forest. In the intervening time, the two had slowly gotten more used to each other. Well, Chrysanthemum always seemed nonplussed by everything, but the situation was getting easier for Felicity, at least. She could refer to the princess by name, now, without feeling like she was doing something wrong.

Felicity was starting to run low on money, though, so before long food would be a problem. 

Despite being such a large and famous forest, they hadn’t actually seen any people since they entered. Felicity was pretty sure she’d seen a fairy in the distance, once, but they didn’t change direction to find it. She’d heard fairies existed here, but she’d definitely never seen one for sure. There were other animals, too. Chrysanthemum had asked what deer tasted like, but neither of them had ever eaten it. They weren’t exactly hunters, either, so even if they did manage to get their hands on one, what would they do with it?

The pair continued walking, sticking close together. At some point it had started raining. The water filtered its way through the tree canopy and fell in large drops and streams. It felt nice. Felicity had never gone this long without a shower; she rubbed her face under some of the pouring rain.

Not exactly like home, but not bad.

Chrysanthemum noticed what she was doing, and joined her. Her long, golden hair was streaked back now, the curls having given way while wet, making it even longer. Of course, her hair was no longer in the perfect condition it had been a week ago. They didn’t even have a hairbrush between the two of them.

Moving behind her, Felicity reached down and picked out a small twig and some leaves that had gotten stuck in the princess’s hair. She had always kept her own hair tightly braided, so she’d never had to worry about this kind of thing. What a pain it must be. Chrysanthemum smiled, wiggling a little in place, happy to have someone paying attention to her. 

As Felicity ran her fingers through the hair to look for any other foreign objects, a loud scream echoed through the forest, followed by several other shouts. It was not too far away. Chrysanthemum spun on her heels and gave Felicity a worried look. Before the older girl could say anything, she’d given a short nod and run off toward the screams.

“Wait!” Felicity ran after her, shouting at her to slow down. “It’s dangerous!”

 

“They need help!” Chrysanthemum was pulling ahead. She was more athletic, and also more reckless as she rushed through the forest at top speed.

Again, Felicity cursed her own incompetence as she just couldn’t catch up. She’d always been bad at sports, but this wasn’t just some game where her class would laugh at her. She didn’t want her friend to get hurt.

“Stop right there!” Chrysanthemum shouted with all the presence of a royal. It was a few more seconds before Felicity caught up to see what exactly she’d yelled at. There were four men with weapons; an axe, daggers, a chain. They were surrounding a handful of smaller people.

Wait, no, not people. They were beastfolk! Felicity had only seen them in books. Demihumans with animal-like characteristics. There weren’t many of them in the kingdom, and they weren’t allowed to own property or anything so they didn’t live in the cities. But sure enough, there were some beastfolk here. What did these men want with them?

“Leave those people alone!” the princess continued her beratement. The men seemed shocked and confused at first, but then they just started laughing. The man with the chain took a step toward Felicity and Chrysanthemum.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” His voice was sinister.

“Chrysanthemum,” Felicity whispered behind her, “we need to get away. This is super dangerous.”

Chrysanthemum shook her head, then yelled again. “Get out of here now! Leave these people alone!”

Was she fearless? Did she not understand what was happening here? It was bad, yes, but it was about to get a lot worse. Felicity put a hand on her shoulder. The princess was trembling.

So she did understand. She was terrified. She was just doing this anyway.

Felicity bit her lip.

Chain took a few steps closer, and Axe and the two Daggers turned their attention to the girls as well. Felicity could just barely see the beastfolk start crawling away. Good. At this rate at least they’d be able to escape.

“Look,” Chain said with a voice feigning kindness, “I’m just trying to make a little money. Got sick kids, you know how it is.” The other men laughed. Felicity knew he was lying. “So if not these animals, then how about you? What you got for me, girls?”

Her hand still on Chrysanthemum’s shoulder, Felicity could tell she was tensing up. She couldn’t just stand behind her like this. She needed to do something. Maybe there was a way to talk their way out of this.

She opened her mouth to say something, but as soon as she did Chrysanthemum rushed forward, pulling away from Felicity’s hand. She was trying to punch Chain! Everyone was shocked at the sudden display of aggression. Her fist impacted his stomach with a soft thud. Chain blinked a few times, but before anybody could react, Felicity held her hand out and used her trusted weapon.

“Sleep!”

Chain was caught mid-blink, and his eyes didn’t open again. He wavered forward and back, and then collapsed into the underbrush. He was out cold. The other three men were shocked, and each brandished their weapons toward Chrysanthemum.

Meanwhile, Felicity couldn’t believe how much that had just taken out of her. Back in the castle, she’d used her sleep spell on a bunch of guards. Here, she felt almost empty after just casting it once. She vaguely recalled a class that might have explained it. Magic rewrites reality to your whim, and the amount of mana it takes from you is proportional to how difficult the change is. So transforming a coffee cup to a tea cup would be infinitely easier than transforming a coffee cup to a chariot. Then, in this case, putting unsuspecting guards to sleep proved much easier than putting to sleep some angry thug in the middle of attacking. 

The spell would still work. It would just cost more.

There was no way she could use it on all four of them.

“What the hell is with this girl?”

“How is she so strong?!”

The other three men seemed to have not noticed it was Felicity’s magic that knocked him out. They signalled to each other and spread out, trying to surround Chrysanthemum. The princess took a cautious step backward.

“U-um, Feli…”

Had her nerves broken? Felicity didn’t know what to do. She had to act. The men were circling closer. The axe guy would reach her first. One of the dagger guys looked especially mean, too. At least those beastfolk had gotten away. They didn’t have to worry about that anymore. 

“Chrys,” Felicity whispered sharply, “when I say ‘go’, run. Behind me.”

Chrysanthemum nodded.

It might not be possible, but this was the situation, and there was nothing they could do about it now. The only way out was forward. Felicity took a deep breath in and out, keeping her eyes focused on Axe. She would have to act quickly, and just suffer whatever pain it caused. 

Okay. It was time.

She could do this.

“Go!”

Chrysanthemum jumped backward, spun, and ran into the trees, curving behind Felicity. The men swore and looked between each other, whispering something Felicity couldn’t hear. Then they each started moving.

“Sleep!” Felicity shouted, pointing at Axe. She felt all of her energy drain from her as the burly ruffian hit the ground. She doubled over, her hands on her knees. Both of the remaining men turned to her and shared a look of understanding. They realized she was the real threat now.

“S… Sleep!” she cast again at one of the Daggers, and now she fell backward. Her legs were jelly. Her chest was burning. Her vision was faded, as if her eyes weren’t working right. She could barely feel the rain on her skin anymore.

“Damn you, mage! You’re gonna fetch a lot of money!” The last man ran toward her, stumbling a bit in the mud. Felicity clambered backward, trying to put distance between them, but he was on her in a flash. “I ain’t gonna kill you, but you ain’t gonna like it anyway!” She saw his grip tighten on the dagger. It was long. It was close enough that she could see it was already stained with someone else’s blood. She focused as much as possible, and knew he was about to swing wide, left to right.

She leaned quickly to the side, dodging it. The man was surprised once again. He would try to stab forward, next. Felicity slid backwards, putting just enough room between them to avoid the follow-up attack as well. But her back hit a tree. There was nowhere to go now.

Felicity forced her arm up toward him and opened her mouth.

“S…”

She couldn’t. She could not physically say the word. Her arm dropped back to her side. She didn’t have enough mana after all. She couldn’t fight.

She couldn’t save herself.

She closed her eyes. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt too bad. Maybe it would be fast. The rain was so loud. What was she even doing here? What would Joyelle think about this? The prophecy. If she didn’t do something about it, the world was really going to end. So that was it, then. She wouldn’t see her parents again, or anybody from school. Chrys would never see her family again. The world would end. Chrys. Wait, when did she start calling her Chrys? Huh. A week ago she felt weird even saying the full name without ‘your highness’ or at least ‘princess’ added. 

THUNK.

Wait.

What?

What was that sound?

Felicity slowly opened her eyes. There was Dagger, the last ruffian, standing in front of her. His mouth was wide open, and his eyes were white. The grip on his weapon relaxed, and it fell to the forest floor. A thin trail of blood ran from his lips. And then he fell to the side, hitting the underbrush face first. An axe buried deep in his back, and a young, determined girl with fiery eyes standing just behind him.

For a moment, Felicity felt frozen in time. She was standing there, the princess. Breathing heavily. Some blood splattered on her clothes. She was looking at the man. 

The man she had just killed.

She looked fierce. Felicity had seen it in art before, but never in person. The look of someone who’s willing to do horrible things. The determination of a warrior.

It was a little scary.

And then she turned her gaze down toward Felicity, and smiled. In an instant, the image from before was shattered. This was the same old Chrys. 

“Feli, are you okay?”

Felicity nodded.

“Good!” She reached a hand down and helped Felicity to her feet. “What a mess, huh?”

“...Mess?”

“But we did good! We saved those people!”

Felicity was in a daze. But maybe the younger girl was right. Maybe she was overthinking it. They made it through. They won. Even if she could barely stand on her own right now.

Chrysanthemum grinned again, then stepped over to the dead man. She reached for the axe, and Felicity managed to turn away just in time to hear, but not see, a sickening sound of ripping flesh.

“Gonna clean this off. Hey, Feli, you okay? How long are those other guys gonna be asleep?”

She actually had no idea. About either question.

“We shouldn’t stick around.”

“K. Let’s take some supplies from these guys, then. Rob the robbers! Like real heroes!”

Heroes? That was her idea of heroism? She’d just killed someone. She’d just swung an axe for what Felicity could only imagine was the first time, and done it right into someone’s back. 

But on the other hand, Felicity would have probably ignored the scream in the first place. She would have felt bad about it, but she was not the type to willingly put herself into danger. Was she?

Was she willingly putting herself into danger by leaving her school and starting this journey in the first place? Then, everything that had happened since; the heist, the kidnapping, the… the death. It was all spiraling from that first decision.

Felicity had gotten someone killed tonight.

But.

Felicity had also saved lives tonight. She could not forget that. It wasn’t some false rationalization; she had seen the fruits of her labor first-hand. Those beastfolk would have suffered some horrible fate if Chrys had not run off after them, and if she had not been there to back Chrys up. The two of them, as a team, had saved innocent lives. And the two of them, as a team, had saved each other’s lives.

Then this was the way it would be. This was their way forward. Felicity looked at Chrys, who was adjusting a leather belt she had pilfered from one of the men. She watched as the girl tightened the belt around her, and then fastened the axe to her back. It was so big compared to her. There was something wrong, something awful about this girl carrying a deadly weapon. A weapon that had just been used to kill. But this was their new normal. This was reality.

“Ch… Chrys.” 

The blonde smiled, hearing her name like that. “Yep?”

“Thank you.”

She seemed almost surprised. “Thank you? No no no, we’re a team! You don’t have to thank me. Just, keep an eye out for me.” Chrys walked over and gave Felicity an unexpected, but very welcome hug. “In case I, you know. Run into danger without thinking.”

Felicity used one of her wet hands to wipe away a bit of blood from Chrys’s cheek. “Yeah. I can do that.”

~~~~~~~~~~ End Chapter 2 ~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The image of Chrys with the bloody axe in the rain is actually one of the first things I decided on, at the very inception of this story. I was extremely nervous about actually writing, it, though!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I'm running a D&D campaign with the premise "What if you were summoned to another world to be a hero and stop a great calamity, but when you arrive the world has already been destroyed?" The heroes in my campaign have had a couple visions of the far past, where a young oracle had a prophecy and set out to find a way to summon them. Of course, by virtue of that conceit, you know that she's ultimately successful in the summoning, but that the world ends anyway. That isn't immediately clear when telling Felicity's story chronologically, but honestly I don't think it hurts the narrative to know. She still has a long way to go before she can pull it off, anyway! And there are *reasons* for everything~
> 
> Also, even though the story is based on a D&D campaign and may contain occasional vague references to it ("magic missile"), I am trying to build a setting from scratch and not rely on anything quintessentially D&D.


End file.
